The Adventurers’ Club — December 4, 2005

I’ve opened up a little experiment, a little idea today. It’s called “The Adventurers’ Club” and here’s how it works.

The next documentary, GET LAMP, is about text adventures. The equipment I used to shoot the BBS Documentary is a bit long in the tooth, and there’s been a lot of advancement in the 4 years since I started shooting, and the 6 years since they started selling the camera that I used. So, I really need to buy a little more equipment to shore that up, and also to reach for a higher ground in terms of video and sound quality.

Also, I’m shooting in high definition. Yes, that’s right, I’m shooting a documentary about text adventures in high definition.

In fact, the price of HDV cameras have gone down considerably in the past few years, but it’s still a lot of money to put out there at once. Money’s always a stress, and I’m hesitant to start taking money out of the BBS Documentary project (which is still ongoing) and aim that in a new direction, if I can help it.

So, I decided to offer up a pre-sale subscription to the eventual product. I call it “The Adventurers’ Club”.

Here’s the pitch and the thinking. You pay in $100 now. You get a copy of the BBS Documentary DVD set immediately, and since I’m charging $40 for that, you’re actually (sort of) sending me $60.

When the DVD/movie is finished a couple of years from now, you get three copies sent to you. And you get them first before anybody. Also, you get your name in the credits, no matter where it goes; television, theatres, DVDs, Sony PSPs, Mobile Phones, Ipods, you name it.

In return, I end up with a financial boost which I can apply towards not playing “cheap-out” games in terms of purchasing equipment, lights, and other related items to making the thing look good.

Naturally, this is quite a level of trust I am asking of people. All I can do is point to the previous work and say “I’m going to do another film like that one.” Or, more accurately, “The guy who made that film is going to make another one.”

Will this fly? I don’t know. Here’s hoping. I’ll report here after the club is closed (I expect I will shut down investment after about a month and a half) how many people joined up.